{"id":1712,"date":"2020-08-08T21:58:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T01:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natural-womanhood.local\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2024-04-03T13:46:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T18:46:12","slug":"ciclo-mindfulness-que-ocurre-cuando-se-ensena-a-las-adolescentes-a-ser-conscientes-de-la-fertilidad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/es\/cycle-mindfulness-what-happens-when-you-teach-fertility-awareness-to-teen-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Atenci\u00f3n plena al ciclo: Qu\u00e9 ocurre cuando se ense\u00f1a a las adolescentes a ser conscientes de la fertilidad"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1980s,\u00a0Leslie Carol Botha<\/a> taught basic fertility awareness charting to teen girls (13-17 year-olds) at eight different restorative care homes for at-risk girls. A typical girl in the program had been a victim of sexual assault, ran away from home, used drugs and alcohol and ended up in jail. In working with these girls, Ms. Botha made an amazing discovery: teens who are taught fertility awareness and how to chart their cycles can regain control of their life.<\/p>\n

Here is what she found out<\/a>: for 90% of the girls in the program who had ended up in jail, it happened during the premenstrual phase of her cycle, that monthly darkness that Ms. Botha calls \u201cfalling down the rabbit hole\u201d: increased anger, disruptive and self-destructive behaviors, suicidal ideation, and drug and alcohol cravings.<\/p>\n

Improving teenage mental health with fertility awareness<\/h2>\n

Ms.\u00a0Botha engaged the girls in a comprehensive menstrual health education program that included tracking their cycles as an art project, complete with colorful markers and stickers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data I walked away with was mind-boggling,\u201d she reported. Generally, more stickers and bright colors are seen early in the cycle, followed by a plunge into darkness upon reaching the eight days on each side of the start of the period.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter the girl, her background the type of abuse she endured, her weight, or body image,\u201d Botha writes, \u201cthey all fell down what I call the \u2018rabbit hole\u2019 in their mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

These young women hadn\u2019t been equipped with an understanding of the hormonal shifts in their cycles and how these changes were driving their moods and behaviors. After three months of charting in this rudimentary fashion, the girls started noticing clear patterns emerging from their charts, and they became aware of that monthly \u201crabbit hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

In learning about their bodies through fertility awareness charting, these girls became empowered and in control, Ms. Botha reported. Mindful self-awareness and the understanding that such phases are normal (and only<\/em> phases) made all the difference in their ability to handle them. Ms. Botha noted also that she referred to the class in her own mind as \u201cabstinence through empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Ms. Botha has become an internationally recognized expert on women\u2019s hormones and behavior. Her work and research focus on the significance of the hormone cycle and its profound relationship to a woman\u2019s psyche. Botha\u2019s 30 years of research demonstrate how hormone fluctuations in the menstrual cycle affect women\u2019s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.<\/p>\n

Teen STAR: Empowering teens with knowledge of their fertility<\/h2>\n

For over 30 years, another organization has taken this concept beyond an experiment and into a full-blown curriculum. Teen STAR<\/a> is also an \u201cabstinence through empowerment\u201d education program: evidence-based and internationally renowned, Teen STAR instructors teach teen girls in middle and high school about fertility awareness, their cycles, and how to chart<\/a> them\u2014and they have successfully implemented the program in schools all over the world.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hanna Klaus, founder of Teen STAR, explained to me the beneficial change evident in girls who go through the program:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found that it takes three cycles on average for girls to own their fertility. One of the process steps is that when they come to know their cycle, and the length of their luteal phase<\/a>, they will know exactly when to expect their period. When that happens their body is talking to them and they are in charge. At that time they often move easily from peer pressure to making their own decisions, they move away from group pressure if the group proposes something they disagree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPuberty is such an important time in a girl’s life,\u201d adds Dr. Klaus. \u201cShe has to come to terms with her changing body as it signals her emerging womanhood. Understanding and valuing one’s sexuality and fertility rather than suppressing it with hormonal contraception is empowering.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the documented outcomes of Teen STAR’s work is the much lower likelihood for these girls to engage in premature sexual activities. The program was evaluated by ChildTrends,<\/a> a leading U.S. nonprofit research organization, which reported “that this program is effective in reducing the rate of pregnancy, delaying the onset of sexual activity, decreasing sexual activity in sexually-active youth, and improving attitudes towards abstinence, compared with students in the no-treatment groups.”<\/p>\n

In a 2001 study<\/a> presented at Pennsylvania State University, Teen STAR researchers analyzed the outcome data from the anonymous exit questionnaires from the 1998-2000 Teen STAR programs in the United States [1]. The Teen STAR researchers concluded that teaching adolescent girls how to track their fertility patterns had a positive correlation not only with maintaining virginity, but also with discontinuing sexual activity (or, as the study authors put it, \u201ca return to chastity.\u201d) They also noted that failure to discontinue sexual activity was linked to the use of contraceptives.<\/p>\n

Due to the success of the program, the authors believe that the Teen STAR approach can be a powerful tool in reducing both teenage pregnancies, and teenage STIs. They also saw an increased level of maturity among many of the participants. As lead author Dr. Klaus describes, \u201cI have also learned that instruction in fertility awareness enables the adolescent to come to a new and deeper understanding of what it means to be a woman. Developing a healthy feminine identity and full acceptance of ones’ sexuality is part of adolescent development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching teens fertility awareness with Teen STAR, all over the world<\/h2>\n

Similarly, a 2003 study<\/a> conducted at a high school in Santiago, Chile, and published in the Journal of Adolescent Health<\/i>, found that education with the Teen STAR program was correlated with significantly lower rates of teenage pregnancy (when compared to the control group of teens who were not enrolled in Teen STAR) [2]. The impetus for the study was the high level of teenage pregnancy in Chile, and the fact that \u201cgreater sexual involvement by increasingly younger teenagers leads to unintended pregnancies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors further noted that \u201calthough oral and other contraceptives are effective pregnancy prevention methods, they have a scant impact on this age group. It is necessary, as a consequence, to provide useful teenage sex education programs. Programs aimed at delaying the start of sexual activity have proved effective in terms of modifying adolescent sexual behavior. They promote a person\u2019s own sense of worth, together with free and informed decision-making, and appear to produce an impact on adolescents. The application of a program such as Teen STAR, which embraces all aspects of human behavior, leads to satisfactory outcomes, including the fivefold reduction in pregnancy rates observed in our study.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that this particular study was prospective, controlled, and randomized, these results are particularly compelling. The study authors therefore concluded that \u201cthe abstinence-centered TeenSTAR sex education intervention was effective in the prevention of unintended adolescent pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teen STAR has been successfully implemented in other countries across the globe. Currently, there is an ongoing study<\/a> assessing a similar intervention for teenage girls in Australian schools [3].<\/p>\n

Here are even more powerful changes reported by Teen STAR teachers from 17 different countries:<\/p>\n